Naruto's Sorrow and Gaara's Plea
Tsunade was preparing to leave her office for the night when an ANBU guard came crashing through her doors. She perked up immediately, startled and on the alert.
"My gods, what now?" she demanded, mentally preparing herself.
"We've been betrayed," came the answer. The ANBU guard was panting, hunched over. She seemed spent.
Tsunade felt a chill, then it quickly blossomed into rage.
"Where is Sasuke Uchiha?" she cried.
The heat from the hungry flames was intense, and Naruto was instantly sweating. But he didn't care. The flames popped and cackled, more of the building's wooden frame collapsing.
"Get back!" a voice yelled as another explosion rocked the destroyed building. Naruto was thrown backwards, but found his fall was softened by sand.
Gaara no Sabaku, Kazekage, who had also been staying at Konoha for the night before returning home to Suna in the morning from the Kage meeting, was at the scene with his own ANBU. He had reached out with his ultimate sand defense, and caught Naruto deftly in a hand molded out of sand.
"There is nothing you or anyone can do now. We were all too late," Gaara said quietly, stepping closer. Naruto stared, wild-eyed, at the burning building. Frantically, he searched the flames, willing Sasuke to appear.
He didn't.
"He's still in there, we've got to go in there!" Naruto cried hoarsely. Gaara shook his head.
"No, Naruto, he is not," the Kazekage said sadly, jade eyes reflecting the orange and red flames.
"I've got to go in and get him. He might be trapped-" Naruto said dumbly and tried to dart away, but Gaara stopped him with sand, keeping him rooted to the ground, the sand that snaked up Naruto's legs hardening like rock.
"He's still in there!" Naruto snarled viciously. Gaara shook his head. Naruto fought, going as far as to suddenly summon clones and irrationally attempt to blast through the base of the sand with a rasengan. Gaara hindered this too. His heart clenched painfully in his chest.
"LET ME GO!" Naruto cried, howling as the burning building spat more fire and embers and wood. What little was left of the Elder's quarters then caved in on itself. Naruto stilled.
Gaara approached him silently. "Naruto-"
"Gaara, let me go," Naruto said in a low growl, enunciating each word slowly. Gaara paused, staring at the back of Naruto's head. He frowned. He almost didn't notice it, given the red glow of the fire. He almost didn't see the red chakra rising off Naruto's skin like steam. His eyes widened.
"Calm down, Naruto. Please," he urged softly, but the blond snarled. Tsunade arrived then, along with more of Konoha's ANBU, her face pale as a sheet. She shielded her eyes from the heat with her arm.
"Naruto!" she yelled, clearly frightened. Naruto was hunching over, fangs bared, eyes red as blood. Tsunade and the ANBU halted.
"Get me Yamato!" Tsunade screamed, and two guards shot off into the night.
"Let me go." Naruto's voice was hushed, deadly. Gaara stepped forward.
"Don't you dare take a step towards him! You'll only entice the Kyuubi more!" his brother, Kankuro, yelled, but Gaara paid no heed.
"My Lord!" Gaara's ANBU cried, but Gaara blocked their path with sand.
"Stop him, we can't have Naruto angered further!" Tsunade yelled, and both Leaf and Sand nin shot forward, only to be swatted away like flies.
"GAARA, DON 'T!" his sister, Temari, was screaming.
For good measure, Gaara encased himself and Naruto in a dome of sand to keep the others (and Naruto) at bay. In the dark of the sand dome, he reached out, grabbing hold of his friend's shoulders, wincing from the heat of the Kyuubi's chakra.
Naruto snarled and tried to shake him off. Tears were in the blond's eyes, which were now glossed over completely in red. No whites or pupils could be seen. The tears that managed to fall sizzled on his skin and rose up in steam with a hiss.
"You're stronger than this, Naruto." Gaara said. Naruto's head turned, glowing red eyes boring into Gaara's bottle-green ones. A devilish smile split his face.
"No, he's not," Naruto hissed, his voice no longer completely his own. Gaara's eyes narrowed, his grip tightened. The Kyuubi snarled, struggled, and laughed.
"Fool. He is mine now. To think I might not have even needed the runt inside him, just the death of his beloved Uchiha. Good riddance, those eyes were sinful."
"I know you're in there, Naruto. Come back to me. I won't let you do this," Gaara said softly, disregarding the demon's remark. The demon laughed.
"No, the weakling is never coming back."
"Come back, Naruto!" Gaara urged. "Come back to the friends who love you." The demon-possessed Naruto narrowed his eyes, and chuckled darkly.
"Pitiful human. The only one who could possibly succeed at this is dead. Trust me. He'll never love you. You will never be as important to him as that Uchiha was." Gaara froze at the demon's words, caught off guard, and the Kyuubi attempted his escape, but Gaara held tight.
"No," Gaara whispered. Snarling, the demon struggled, and attempted to claw at Gaara's face, slicing skin open from the corner of his left eye to the corner of his mouth. Gaara was not deterred.
From outside, he could hear the muffled yells and shouts. He could banging on the sand dome as nin desperately tried to break in.
It would never work.
Gaara moved closer, and closer still, until he was hugging Naruto to him in a vice-like embrace. The second tail had not yet erupted, the demon was only as strong as the body he possessed. Gaara's clothes were burning, but he kept at it.
"Come back," he hissed, through pain and desperation.
Come back, Naruto.
From deep within, Naruto could hear the voice, soft and urging, but he lay floating in the pool before the Kyuubi's gate, defeated, in shock, and utterly numb. The demon gnashed its jaws.
"Let me out entirely. You have nothing left to live for," it urged. Naruto said nothing, only lay in defeat, eyes wide but seemingly not seeing.
"Wasn't fast enough," he muttered. He…damn it. He was useless. Finally, he fights against the current, and Sasuke dies on his watch. His. In the shock that followed that thought, a sound broke past his lips. Something desperate. A terrible wail that made him cringe. For a moment, he didn't realize the terrible sound was of his own making.
He trembled.
"Let me out, Naruto!" the demon howled.
Come back.
"Now, whelp! You have the power! You have the power to do what you desire. Let them know your fury. They killed him. Those people who claim to support you, took him from you! Let them know your rage," it enticed.
Come back. There it was again…a silent beckoning. A plea.
"Now!" the Kyuubi growled. Naruto stared at it, looking deep in its yellow eyes, watching the flicker of its garnet fur. It moved like flame. Garnet…just like Sasuke's Sharingan.
Then he heard it. A steady drum of a heartbeat, still bouncing off the steel walls of the prison despite the chaos outside.
And Naruto remembered the child. He remembered telling it don't worry. He blinked, and slowly stood. The Nine Tails laughed uproariously.
"Idiot boy. I will be the death of you and the little monster in your belly. To think that I would allow another set of eyes like that into the world! It's weakened you. You cannot keep me at bay. I will win this war. Surrender now and die peacefully, before you cause you and the runt a miserable death."
It flashed a toothy grin. Naruto looked to the gate numbly.
Come back.
He swallowed. For a moment, he felt like collapsing again. He couldn't do this. He was a failure. He was…
No. He had to do this.
"If I die, you'll die with me. This I promise you," Naruto vowed darkly, and closed his eyes as the Kyuubi cursed and thrashed. When he opened his eyes he found that Gaara was holding him. Naruto felt weak, and leaned against him, shoulders slumped. He felt dead inside. Dead, tired, and hollow. His skin burned. It hurt to blink.
"I knew you'd come back," Gaara whispered. Naruto said nothing, and the sand dome encasing them fell away. Tsunade ran forward, grabbing Naruto by the shoulders. Her eyes swept over Gaara, grateful but disapproving, then barked out orders.
"Get them both to the hospital! Now!" she yelled. She pointed to another team.
"Reign in that fire. I want the bodies recovered."
"Yes, my Lady."
Naruto listened to the voices as he was lead to the hospital, but he refused to be helped, shoving the guard that offered to help him roughly away. The rest of the night passed in a blur. Burned remains of Homura were found. A hand had been discovered. Koharu's. There was no sign of Sasuke. Naruto was too afraid, too tired, to hope.
Naruto lay in his hospital bed, listening to the heartbeat of the baby, which reverberated through the room from the monitor he was hooked up to. Naruto's actions had caused some stress, elevating the fetus's heartbeat enough to cause concern and a stress test.
It seemed fine now.
There was a knock at his door as it opened a crack. Sakura had come to check on him once more. Naruto and Sasuke's presence in the village had been kept a secret, until the Elders were killed. At that point, Tsunade had informed the other nin she trusted what had happened.
Sakura stood by the edge of his bed, her emerald eyes dull. She didn't look him full in the face. Naruto pretended not to notice, though his heart clenched.
"They didn't find him, but they don't see how he could've escaped that. His blood was there though, Shizune performed a thorough analysis. He was in there when it exploded. The bomb the Elders activated…he would have had to have a really good trick up his sleeve. Shizune suspects he was made into a living bomb, and that's why we can't find him. There's literally nothing left..." She stopped, unable to continue. Naruto said nothing, only looked away.
"I didn't get to him in time," he said quietly. Sakura sighed.
"Naruto..."
"I should have known. I should have never agreed to come here with him-" Gods, he was so stupid-
"Naruto he used you to get here. Don't you get it?" Sakura hissed.
"I should've-" he said, but stopped when he'd realized what Sakura had said. He looked at her dumbly.
"You can't save everyone, Naruto." She took off his monitors. Her fingers were cold. Naruto looked at her.
"No. I can't," he conceded angrily, lowering his head and looking away, not wanting her to see the tears.
I can't save everyone. He listened to the baby's heartbeat, losing himself in the sound. If he concentrated on something, anything, the pain was a little easier to bear, the rage a little easier to reign in. He wrapped his arms around himself.
He took a rattling breath.
"You should have killed him when you had the chance."
Naruto's eyes widened at Sakura's sudden words. She was puttering about now. Cleaning up. Checking numbers that didn't need to be checked.
"He's better off dead, and you're better off with it. He compromises you, and the way things are now…you can't afford to feel torn. The Sasuke we knew? He's dead, and now he always will be. So get over it, Naruto. He could have killed you with everything you allowed him to put you through!" She started to cry, and her voice shook.
"He would have chosen his success over you any day." She wiped her eyes, her voice so cold Naruto couldn't believe it was Sakura who was speaking. Naruto said nothing. He looked away, bit the inside of his cheek so hard it bled, but it was better than screaming at Sakura. Physical pain, he decided was better than emotional pain. Unlike the latter, physical damage stopped hurting much, much faster.
At that moment, the door opened again, and Tsunade entered, grim-faced, accompanied by Gaara, who was flanked by his siblings. Kankuro and Temari kept their features schooled, but Naruto eyed them angrily, wondering what they're thoughts must be.
"You will be leaving Konoha in the morning. Madara will become aware of this soon if there are spies among us, but that is the plan. We're planning a false trail."
"Where will I go?" Naruto asked hoarsely.
"To Suna. With me. We leave for the desert at dawn," Gaara answered steadily. Kankuro and Temari eyed Naruto warily. Naruto looked into Gaara's green eyes, and nodded in understanding and silent gratitude. He flushed slightly in shame when he noticed Gaara's stitched up cheek.
Gaara had become an invaluable friend. As someone who had once known the curse of losing control to a Tailed Beast, Gaara was able to understand the pain and hardship Naruto went through.
"I wish to speak with him…alone," the Kazekage demanded suddenly. Tsunade pursed her lips, but did not argue. Slowly, people trickled out of the room. Temari and Kankuro waited outside by the door.
"Tsunade should have come to me first instead of Mei," Gaara said quietly. Naruto grimaced.
"I know."
"However, I can understand why she took the risk-"
"It doesn't matter now. It's over," Naruto interrupted in a flat voice. He didn't feel like talking.
"The Kages are under the impression that you will be moved elsewhere. Besides the Mist, the rest are still unaware of your condition. You will send three different clones tomorrow. One will travel with Sakura and Kakashi under the guise of an ANBU guard, another also in ANBU garb with a group put together by Tsunade, and the final one will not be disguised, traveling with a team I put together. You will come with me under the guise of one of my own personal guards until we are well past the village walls."
For a long moment, there was silence. The two sat in the dark room, and listened to the sound of a young heart beating.
"I'm sorry about Sasuke. Truly. I understand you must be in a lot of pain," Gaara whispered. Naruto clenched his fists. He would not cry in front of Gaara. He wouldn't. The tears he needed to shed…he wanted to let them fall when he was alone. He just wanted to be left alone in peace for a moment. He did not desire any company, although he made an exception with Gaara.
"It was…my fault. I should have never allowed us to come here," Naruto said with a bitter taste in his mouth. He had allowed it, it was true. He could have fought Sasuke on the matter of Konoha harder when they were in the forest. He could have dug his heels in and refused.
"Yes," Gaara agreed, the edges of his voice uncharacteristically hard. Naruto looked up in surprise.
"Naruto, you are the most amazing and influential person I have ever met, not to mention powerful. For that, I respect you. But…You need to grow up, Naruto. I cannot stand to see you used. You must be able to see these types of things for yourself, even in the people you care for. In that way, you are still naïve." The cold anger lacing Gaara's tone was like a slap in the face.
Naruto blinked away hot tears, reigning in his anger. Gaara turned to leave, but not before he turned to say one last thing.
"You are my friend, and because you are my friend, I…care about you. In Suna, no harm shall ever come to you or your child. I swear it. I will protect you when you have need of me, and I will never abandon you," Gaara whispered, and Naruto noted the look of agony that spasmed across the Kazekage's face for the briefest moment.
If he wasn't brimming with anger he would have been kinder.
"Get out, Gaara. Please," Naruto muttered. The fact that he had just ordered around a Kage was lost to him. Gaara frowned, pain apparent in his eyes, but he left. Then Naruto was left alone in the dark room, alone with his thoughts, his child, and his tears. The rain continued to fall.